back to the music indeed... So things have moved on in some ways. Here.. have a go with this. This is FAB-TASTIC!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhgQYXTSwkg&feature=related
traditional and very beautiful.
So Ned has pretty much got it all boxed up nicely. It all started to go wrong it the 14th century at the battle of Kosovo Polje (this is very important). The Serbs and the Bosniacs were lined up against the Ottoman Empire. The result wasn't great. The Serbs were defeated and there was talk of Bosniac changeovers etc. Who knows. How can you say it was or was not. But thats become fact in Serbia and they hate BiH. The king of Bosnia at the time was married to a princess of french descent, thats why we have the french shield. So the Ottoman (I will skip loads don't worry) occupation continued. Serbia was taken before Bosnia. The Ottomans as was their want put their own troops in the central area of Balkans for policing actions. Which happened to be BiH.
Wind on a few hundred years. Ethnic tensions etc. Bosnia wasn't really a country. It was in the 1400's, but then got chopped up and divided. Ottomans came and went, (leaving a significant but minority muslim population) Austro-Magyars came and went along with WW1 and the death of Franz.
WW2 started and we were off! The country of Jugoslavia split into its constituent parts. Serbia stayed with the allies through Partizan activities. Bosnia and Croatia went with the Axis. The allies could back the king or the socialists under Tito. The socialists were the only horse in the race really. Post ww2, and everything got pulled together. BiH was the middle. Serbs, Jugoslavs, Croats, Hercegs, Bosniacs all in one country, which nobody could remember being a country anyway... Quite the mix. The muslim faith was banned until the 1970's btw. Cannot remember the exact date. People practiced on the quiet though. I had some muslim realtives (didn't make it through) who used to have a chat with god in their kitchen. The yugo mindset was socialist neutrality, so they didn't line up with Hungary, east germany etc. It was more iron handkerchief than iron curtain. Anyway, goodbye Tito, welcome Yugo Socialist Party run by Serbs.
The war really kicked off in Kosovo as the economy (state controlled) went up the pisser. The SPS (socialist party) said Kosovo couldn't fail or leave or do knack all (Its the whole heart of their church, beliefs etc because of the 1400's). That level of muscle flexing frightened the ass out of everybody. Slovenija said ciao and off they went. The JNA (yugo army) staged an exercise in Slovenija as they were leaving, using live rounds. But the Slovenes and the JNA guys on the ground didn't know at first. You need to remember most of the JNA officer corps were Serbian. Slovenija legged it anyway and then the Croats went. They had a nasty war, a lot of unpleasantness, but it was a war for seperation.
Then it was us in BiH. Our difficulty was that we were a mixed bag.
When the independance vote came in I was sat next to some serb guys. It was a difficult time. The whole thing was a mess. The Bosnian Croats had their own army. Loyal to BiH in the north and centre, agaisnt us in the south. BiH forces fought each other in Bihac. My unit had serbs, croats and bosniacs in it. Our senior commander Jovan Divjak was a Serb. The serb army (JNA) left and were replaced by Bosnian Serbs VRS (vojska respublike srbska). A rebadging exercise. They still had the panes and tanks which we didn't have. The war wasn't really about land it was more about extermination. 1 in 12 of the BiH population was killed. Can you even imagine it? Death camps in modern europe. People dying in the street from lack of food in the same city that had the 1984 olympics. When it looked like we were going to lose, our croat allies started shooting at us. The divisions were very painful. familes were properly ripped apart. I am half UK and pretty much half Yugoslav. I would go in and out of the country all the time as a child. Did my time as a little pioneer for a bit. collected shoes for Mozambique Solidarity day... the usual. Some of my childood friends lined up on the other side. Its all very upsetting. It destroyed our whole life. We were outnumbered and outgunned all the way through. All the other side wanted to do was kill all BiH people. All of us. Everybody. Thats very hard to take and its very upsetting. Oh I've said that again. To know that if you put your hands up you'll die is a worry. To know that they don't want bridge X or to win. They will keep going until we are all gone. Mrs. Topic aged 80 was a legitimate target.
And imagine having the war on your street. Right now. On your street. A teacher killed children in their class. Sat in their class. How the f*ck does that work? A neighbour killed the children of the people who lived next door. After years of living together. But anyway. Where was I... Oh yes. So where are we now. Well its a failed state. Nothing is fixed, mass corruption. Empty villages, denial of genocide... Its all a bit of a mess. My unit was in Dobrinja in the aerodrome sector of Sara. We were pretty much hammered every day. I mean the shit kicked out of us. Igman, lost that, Ilidza, lost, Hradznica, lost, Grbvica lost. And everybody killed. everyone. I hate myself for being alive now in lots of ways. I feel so very very bad about it. The only other bit is the whole mujahed thing. We were so short of weapons (our unit was on 1 rifle between 2 people at one point), that we would take them from anywhere, if people would run the blockade. So we got stuff from Iran and Saudi. But the only problem was that they came with some mentals attached to them.
So thats where we are. Mentally it was all very distressing. I would say things like "thats my school, what are they doing to my school". Then I would have a bit of a cry. And I still do. I am stuck a bit really. I don't think I can add any more.
Apologies, thats a bit longer than I probably meant to do. anyhoo... before I get all upset again like a girl, here is a nice link. If any of you get the chance to come to BiH please, you should. Its the most beautiful place in the world. And if I am there, I will buy you a beer. 1 beer...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woAH5N_ZJuA&NR=1
